Cuban designer Isabel Toledo sticks to her roots

By Joy Sewing :
June 20, 2012
: Updated: June 20, 2012 2:33pm

The yellow shift and coat Michelle Obama donned for her husband's inauguration put Isabel Toledo on the map.

Photo By Randall Bachner

Designer Isabel Toledo

Photo By Andrew H. Walker/Staff

NEW YORK - MARCH 16: Fashion designer Isabel Toledo and artist Ruben Toledo attend the CFDA Fashion Awards nominations at the rooftop gardens at Rockefeller Center on March 16, 2009 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)

There are many pivotal moments in Isabel Toledo's nearly 30-year journey as a fashion designer.

Creating the 2009 inaugural outfit for first lady Michelle Obama was one.

Obama wore Toledo's lemon-grass yellow Swiss wool-lace shift dress with matching overcoat. The garment appeared to magically change intensity as light reflected on it, leaving viewers with different interpretations of the color.

For the Cuban-born designer who had yet to received the accolades of more well-known designers with major financial support, the day changed her life.

"Thank God for Michelle Obama," Toledo said during a phone interview. "She picked out that outfit but could have gone with anyone else. As an independent designer, that I was able to create something for that moment in history was incredible."

Obama had previously bought Toledo's designs from Ikram, a Chicago boutique that sells clothes by Narciso Rodriguez and Maria Cornejo, other Obama favorites.

Since Inauguration Day, Toledo has expanded her brand into an affordable line of shoes at Payless ShoeSource, with styles all retailing for less than $40. It launched in 2010. Her ready-to-wear collections are sold at Nordstrom.

Toledo also is a voice for independent designers who create and produce collections entirely in the U.S. and without the support of financial investors. She talks about her journey in her memoir, "Roots of Style: Weaving Together Life, Love and Fashion" (Celebra, $25.95).

"I don't give tips in the book," she said. "It wasn't about writing a story but reflecting on a story. I don't have the money, the backing or even the name. I wanted to tell kids there's another way other than 'Project Runway.' "

In her book, Toledo describes her early childhood in Camajuani, Las Villas, Cuba, a small town three hours from Havana. She came to the United States at 8 with her family and grew up in West New York, a working-class community of Cuban immigrants. In high school, she met and fell in love with Cuban native Ruben Toledo, a now-famous fashion illustrator and artist who has done a number of ad campaigns for Nordstrom. The couple married in 1984.

In 1986, she presented her first collection. Then in 1998, she stopped presenting biannual collections, opting to create collections on her own schedule.

In 2006, Toledo was named creative director of Anne Klein and debuted with Anne Klein at New York Fashion Week in February 2007. She returned to her own label later that year. In 2010, she also designed swimwear for Target's new store in East Harlem. The styles featured her husband's artwork.

"I enjoy the independence," she said. "I make everything in New York. I can't grow easily, so I have to grow carefully. For me to be able to still have a voice is so important. I sell as much as I can possibly produce. I do it slowly."

Toledo employs a staff of 20, and later this year she plans to exhibit her work in Miami's Freedom Tower, where Cuban refugees passed through between 1962 and 1974. Toledo compares the tower to Ellis Island in New York and recalls walking the hallways as a young girl.

Toledo still draws on her Cuban roots for inspiration in each garment she creates.

"I'm always trying to create symbols out of the clothes," Toledo said. "That comes from my Cuban heritage. I think clothes should have meaning. Somehow, I feel that's a very Cuban thing."